The right is having a field day beating up on Barack Obama for allowing the Republican Party to create such massive uncertainty about the ability of the United States to pay its bills that our credit rating was downgraded from triple A to AA+being so stupid and incompetent that the United States’ credit rating was downgraded from triple A to AA+.

Meanwhile, Eric Cantor and John Boehner are publicly urging Republicans in Congress to maintain their position of no tax increases at all, ever — which, as Steve Benen points out, means that Cantor and Boehner are calling for the GOP to back Standard & Poors’ decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating:

The rhetoric isn’t surprising, but the context is critically important. Standard & Poor’s downgraded American debt just a few days ago and raised some specific concerns to justify the decision.

Namely, the S&P analysis pointed to, among other things, the partisan gridlock in Congress caused by Republicans, and the fact that “the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues.”

This, in turn, has led the top two Republicans in the House to urge their allies to prove S&P right. GOP officials caused this mess, and as of yesterday, they’re apparently eager to make it worse. This isn’t something they’re especially embarrassed about — hell, they’re proud of it.